Playing videos stored on PC on my KD-48A9

[smackenzie]

Bravia KD-48A9 - can't connect to PC folder I've designated for videos. TV only sees Windows default video folder (W10). Tried various media servers (UMS, Stremio, Kodi, Serviio), have designated appropriate folder on each, TV never finds it.

Any clues as to what I may be doing wrong? Is it likely to be on the PC or the TV?

[Piscie]

Hey @smackenzie, 

Could you explain what are you trying to do? Are you trying to transfer videos to your TV or vice versa? 

[smackenzie]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I have a large number of videos and movies stored on my office PC, on the E drive. At present, if I want to watch one on my wall mounted TV in the living room, I copy it to a USB stick, plug that into my laptop, connect the laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable, and play it. What I want to do is access the desktop PC's E drive directly on the TV - both are wirelessly connected to my home network - and play the video using one of the apps on the TV (Media Center, VLC, whatever).
However, while the TV links to my PC without problems, the only video folder it will give me access to is the default Video folder on the C drive. Designating the folder on the E drive as the default doesn't work; the TV only sees the standard Windows 10 default folder. I have tons of space on the E drive, but not much on the C drive, and I don't want to move all the videos there, as the Cdrive is reserved on my system for the OS and apps - no data.

[khallergard]

Suggest you use SMB shares with the PC as server, and include the video folder on Drive E as a share.  On the TV configure SMB clients on KODI or VLC.  Works beautifully!

[khallergard]

Some tips here: 

https://tinyurl.com/y7a7lsng

[smackenzie · Accepted solution]

Thanks to all for replies. This all started because Plex - which I had on my old TV - wouldn't connect to my new Sony. However, a response  on another forum forced me to look again at everything; I trashed all installations on TV and PC, reinstalled from scratch and..... It worked!
So again thanks to all who replied, and in so doing made me do what I probably should have done in the first place. Moral of the story? Check everything - then check it again!

[KyaMarley75]

Thankyou For Sharing This, Had No Problem Adding A Shared Folder On My XH81 But See This X81J Its Having My Life.... So Yeah Hopefully Laddos Info Will Help Me Sort Shared Folder From Laotop On To Bravia. 

[HannahEd01]

Hi smackenzie, thank you for updating the thread, happy f or you! @KyaMarley75, do let us know how it goes please. 

[KyaMarley75]

Am No Further Forward I'm Either Missing A Step Or The Point Lol. I'm Having The Same Issue Adding Shared Folder To Kodi So Am Passing On This Subject. 🙈

[khallergard]

Here is a checklist after Windows making SMB 1 Server obsolete: 

1  Have you changed Kodi from None to SMBv1 in Settings/Services/Advanced? 

2  On Windows have you unticked SMB 1 Server in Windows Features? 

3  When creating SMB shares on Windows, are you giving permissions to everyone? 

4  Are you using the same Windows username and password on Kodi & VLC when adding SMB shares?

5  On VLC have you unticked Prefer SMB 1 in advanced Settings?